小品、品大

小品、品大, project in which Sock Fong explores the concept of how the smallest of articles can hold profound and multidimensional thoughts.

Artist's statement
“In these recent works I have been exploring 小品品大 (xiaoping pingda), a concept in which even in the smallest of articles, profound and multidimensional thoughts can be found. My rough translation of 小品品大 (xiaoping pingda) is “even small works can contain dignity and integrity” – in this case I have adopted this from the point of view of an artist. This has been my philosophy for the preparation of artworks for this exhibition, derived from the writings of Zhuangzi, the influential 4th century BC Chinese philosopher.

Zhuangzi introduced the concept of “太極” (taiji), which is most commonly translated to mean “the great ultimate”, a humanitarian ideal. Zhuangzi elaborates that if anything were to be ‘higher’ than “太極” (taiji) then it should not be considered ‘good’ and if anything were to be ‘deeper’ than “太極” (taichi) then it too should not be considered as ‘profound’. In some texts, this philosophy is said to explore the idea of ‘sincerity’.

Consequently, I have tried to adopt the “innocent eyes” of a child, to see the world uncorrupted by society and culture. I have tried instead to accept the imagery of the world in its pure form – to see a flower just as a flower, and a fish as just a fish, instead of the prescribed symbology that these objects may hold, like ‘romance’ or ‘luck’. I do not hold this as a one-dimensional world-view, but instead, to see that a child’s perspective is unlimited. I try to hold a pure and authentic perspective, and to develop a perspective that is without constraints and boundaries.”